Joan Eardley

Stormy Sky over Catterline Sea Shore

About this artwork

This drawing shows the beach at Catterline, a small fishing village near Aberdeen, where Eardley spent much of her time from the mid-1950s onwards. By the late 1950s the fishing industry in Catterline was in decline and there were just four fishing boats left. They appear in many of Eardley’s works and can be identified by their colour; here, the blue Linfall is in the foreground with the green Mascot behind it. Both were old ship’s lifeboats. They had two main catches: lobster and crab caught in creels, and haddock and cod caught on a line. The tall pole in the centre of the picture is a light that was permanently fixed to the Mascot. Eardley’s sketch shows the boats pulled up onto the beach, protected from the rough winter seas by the pier, which spans across the composition in the background.

Updated before 2020

see media
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Tell us what you think.

Joan Eardley

Joan Eardley